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The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History |  | Author: Robert M. Edsel
Creator: Bret Witter
Publisher: Center Street
Category: Book
List Price: $26.99
Buy New: $14.58
as of 3/21/2010 12:29 CDT details
You Save: $12.41 (46%)
New (35) Used (17) Collectible (6) from $12.82
Seller: Stephen F. Forsyth, Bookseller
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 4379
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Stated First Edition
Pages: 496
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 1599951495
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.531
EAN: 9781599951492
ASIN: 1599951495
Publication Date: September 3, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| • | ISBN13: 9781599951492 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 If you are patient, you will find the treasure in this book March 7, 2010
E. Jacobs
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If I had written this review when I was only 25% of the way through this book, I would have given it 2 stars. The beginning of the book can only be described as plodding and in my opinion was not very well constructed. However, I hung in there and the payoff came in the remainder of the book.
The book describes an overlooked group of men and women who served during WWII to save priceless buildings and works of arts in Europe. It also describes the internal conflicts of these folks who wondered, for example, if the German people deserved the return of their Nazi-stolen art. The efforts of these dedicated service-men and -women were, naturally enough, largely overshadowed by the inarguably more important discoveries at the end of WWII, such as the truths revealed by the liberation of the concentration camps. This book is thus a wonderful contribution to an overlooked history of the time.
The end of the book describes the discovery of hidden German repositories of art; the volume and quality of art found in these hiding places is absolutely staggering. I had the pleasure of seeing Michelangelo's flawless Madonna when I was in Bruges and was riveted by her WWII story, which was not described in any detail in the materials given out by the museums there.
In summary: stick with it. The book had some problems with flow, especially in the beginning, but the payoff of the middle and ending was worth it.
 Spellbinding! March 3, 2010
Steven D. Shrawder
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My daughter gave me this book for Christmas which contained a signed personal greeting from Harry Ettlinger, one of the few surviving Monuments Men. I was reading another book at the time and had another in waiting. When I finally started reading this book I could not put it down. The events, historical background and personalities come to life and complement one another in a fasinating way. This book provides, for even the most informed WWII readers, insight into events, motives and personalities from a totally different perspective. I do not consider myself a history buff, but I loved this book and would highly recommend this to anyone.
Another Aspect of World War II February 18, 2010
Andrew Liptak (Vermont)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Second World War is possibly one of the most studied conflicts in human history. Recent efforts in the academic and popular writing market, as well as large budget productions such as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, coupled with the rapidly declining numbers of World War II veterans has only increased our appetite for stories from this monumental conflict, and as a result, a large number of books, television documentaries and movies have capitalized on the events of 1939 to 1945.
Robert Edsel and contributor Bret Witter have put together a monumental (no pun intended) book entitled The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History that paints a vastly different picture of the war than has been seen before. While much of the attention paid to the soldiers involved with the fighting, Edsel presents a mission that had far larger connotations: while the fighting forces were preoccupied with saving Europe and containing Nazi aggression, a small, relatively unknown group of soldiers were tasked with the almost insurmountable task of saving something far greater: the elements upon which European culture rests. The Monuments Men were the ones who would locate, preserve and document the artwork that the Nazi military stole from the countries that it conquered during the course of the Second World War.
Over the course of this book, Edsel tells the story of a small, dedicated group of individuals who, with very little support and even less authority, set out as the Allies invaded the European mainland and worked accomplish their impossible task. In doing so, he not only talks about the people who are involved with this venture, but also examines some of the crimes that the Nazis perpetrated during the war: the theft and destruction of art, using artwork as evidence of Nazi superiority (and of other races inferiority), but also the blatant disregard for the care and well being of artwork. Moreover, the lesson that is never quite forgotten over the course of the book is the casualties of war, especially amidst the destruction in Europe.
Thinking back to when I was in England in 2006, I remember hearing about some of the efforts that went into preserving some of the cultural artifacts around the country: ancient cathedrals were reinforced, stained glass windows were taken down and put away and artwork was stashed far from where they could be harmed. Other places weren't as lucky, and as Nazi Germany rolled into the rest of Europe, artwork was captured or destroyed. Edsel starts off his book quickly, looking at some of the concerns that museum officials and art professionals had as the war started, and looks at the highly public effects of the destruction of history had upon the Allies and Axis powers. A particular case in point was the Allied destruction of Monte Cassino, which helped to prompt a greater awareness of the sheer impact that heavy-handed militaries might have, and how wonton destruction of targets could be harmful in the long run, something that would impact the conduct of war later on.
While Edsel doesn't dwell for too long on anything but the Allied conquest of Europe and followup actions after the war, or just a small number of characters out of the 345 or so men involved with this unit, what he does is highly effective by bringing both the larger themes of this struggle, but also enough human faces to the table to allow any reader to relate to what was going on after the front lines passed. Most notable is George Stout, of the US Naval Reserve, who was involved early on in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives project. One of the first Monuments Men to travel into Europe, Edsel notes that he took only one or two days off during his entire time in the theater of operations, working tirelessly to document thousands of sites and items. Harry Ettlinger had fled from Germany and joined the US Army shortly after high school, becoming an important member during the operations in Europe. Captain Walker Hancock, Lieutenant James Rorimer, Captain Robert Posey, and more from the US Army make up a fascinating cast of characters, all of whom are not only written about, but do some of the writing themselves, as Edsel has included a number of their letters in the book. Beyond US Army personnel, Edsel also talks much about Rose Valland, a French woman who works tirelessly, as a volunteer at the Jeu de Paume museum and spied against the Nazi occupation to preserve the art in the museum, as well as Jacques Jaujard, the director of the French National Museums. Edsel takes only a small number of interesting figures that were involved, but just enough to ensure that the book isn't bogged down with an endless number of figures. Those who are represented are facinating, with a diverse number of backgrounds, all brought together by this extrordinary task.
These characters, while most never interact with one another, save for occasional mission, are intertwined with the Nazi plans for artwork as the war turned in the Allies favor, and Edsel pieces together the actions of this diverse group to show just what happened in Europe during the war. As the fighting passed over Europe, the Monuments Men were never very far behind, working to examine and to guide restoration and continuing preservation. At times, they helped to redirect Allied war efforts to better preserve sites, created lists of buildings that should be avoided and worked hard to locate missing works of art. Other times, they would document the damage, or rush in to try and locate a valuable statue that watched the fighting move past. Edsel traces their path through Europe, starting with Operation Overlord, and pushing through France to Paris, to Germany and Berlin between 1944 and 1945. In doing so, the reader is shown a different view of World War II than what has been largely popular: the aftermath of the fighting, when the Monuments Men largely went to work. They would task local villagers to help fix damaged structures, helped with logistical operations, would survey and document hundreds of sites, all with very little support, often with just one soldier in hundreds of square miles.
What has astounded me more, however, was not just the task that these men faced, but that their story has never fully been explored or told, as the ending of the book states. Their story was one that sat in the background, largely taken for granted and lost to the larger picture. It is a shame, because their story is possibly one of the more important, for this was what was at stake when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939. The Nazi government had sought to supplant all creativity by replacing it with their own, hording everything deemed important to the state, with everything that was seen as subversive destroyed by fire. Much was lost forever, and undoubtedly, much is still unknown and lost, waiting in dark shadows to be found once again. The efforts of the Allied forces demonstrates a broadening of thinking beyond just the next objective and enemy soldiers to be killed, and that there was a recognition of the importance of culture and buildings beyond their immediate impact on the battlefield. The battlefield, in a sense, was Europe, and those in danger were those made of paint and bronze, who look back and show us a glimpse into the past, into the minds of the artists who helped to make Europe what it was.
Originally Posted to my Blog.
 Hard to tell who is the right audience for this book February 15, 2010
Bernie (Richardson, TX USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a very strange book. I learned the names of a lot of pieces of art, and read the names of a lot of towns and cities in France and Germany and Austria and Belgium that I'd never heard before. I learned that museum curators took actions in the early stages of World War II to protect art treasures in America in the event the continental US was bombed or invaded. I learned that at the beginning of US involvement in the war in Europe our military established a Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) organization. I learned about Hitler's scorched earth memorandum as the war neared its end. The book reinforced and added a bit to the horrors of the Holocaust. I learned that key, original members of the MFAA thought they worked very hard during the war and that they were sometimes very busy.
But there is so much that I didn't learn, things the it seems I should have learned from this book, especially a book of this size. We're told over and over again about times when some of the principal Monuments Men are very busy, and it is substantiated by several of their letters which are reprinted in the book. But we never get an appreciation of what they were busy doing. We're told early on that they have no transportation, no radios, no cameras or film for cameras. But we're told about all the communications that goes on between them and how quickly they are able to respond to new information or requests to aid each other. We never get a feel for how they manage to cajole others to give them rides, or how one of them manages to keep a commandeered car running for thousands and thousands of miles. We never learn how they communicate. We get very little appreciation of whatever hardships they endured or how they lived, or even how they got fed.
It was good to read in the last chapter though, about the fates of the many, many people that we've read about in the book. That is well done and appreciated. It is also the chapter where we learn in passing that there was at least one woman in the MFAA.
I'm glad that I thumbed through the back matter too so that I came across the Acknowledgments section which told something about how the material was gathered. I was surprised to find it there rather than at the beginning, but perhaps that is the best place for it - I'm not sure. I was surprised to find a list of all the people in the book at the back of the book. It would have been helpful to know that this list with the one sentence descriptions was there while reading the book. More and better maps would have been helpful, especially ones that included all of the sites mentioned in the book.
The book had a good bibliography and an index. I'm not sure who the right audience is for this book, but for the right researchers the index will certainly be useful, and I'm sure the content would be too.
A major goal of the MFAA, beyond protecting art, was to restore it to its proper owners or their survivors. I wish there had been some space devoted to talking about that process and the results and challenges of those efforts.
A treasure of men February 9, 2010
Jon Hunt (Old Greenwich, Ct. USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The group of individuals that came to be known as "The Monuments Men" must have been the most undersung and unheard of group that aided the war cause in Europe in 1944 and 1945. The history books forgot to tell us about these American, British, French, and yes, even German heroes as they went about their collective business tracking down artwork plundered by the Nazis. Their story is compellingly captured in Robert M. Edsel's new book and it's mesmerizing.
While "The Monuments Men" is, at the least, about the works of art themselves, this is a book about names: George Stout, Robert Posey, Rose Valland, James Rorimer, Aachen, Altaussee, Neuschwanstein and even Hermann Göring, who lives up (or down) to his pompous reputation. These men, some with significant backgrounds in the art world, nonetheless were thrust into a war with a narrowly-defined mission accompanied by a widely-defined scope, with not much else to go on, in terms of leads. Where was the "Bruges Madonna", for instance? Operating as national representatives without portfolio, "The Monuments Men" had to make it all up...or most of it, anyway. Their contacts, especially with the fearless French woman Rose Valland, for instance, proved invaluable, and because of their efforts much stolen art work was recovered.
The two joys for this reader were discovering that "The Monuments Men" had even existed (one...Harry Ettlinger...is still alive today) and the second being the terrific narrative employed by author Edsel. He puts you right in the shoes of each individual as they trek across Europe, often under terrible conditions. But the dedication to their work paid off in exponential returns. They succeeded largely by their determination and it is a story that has finally found the light of day. I highly recommend "The Monuments Men".
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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